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The ReverendAlfred Mansfield Mitchell
Born	1853 Dublin, Ireland
Died	18 February 1936 (aged 83) Burtonwood, England
Resting place	Burtonwood Cemetery
Alma mater	Trinity College Dublin
Occupation(s)	Clergyman, activist
Spouse	Janet Elizabeth Louisa Hammond ​ ​(m. 1887)​
Signature

Alfred Mansfield Mitchell (1853 – 18 February 1936) was an Irish clergyman and activist. He advocated for anti-vivisection, vegetarianism, pacifism, and against poverty. He was the longest serving vicar of St Michael's Anglican Church in Burtonwood.

Biography

Career

Mitchell was born in Dublin. He was ordained in 1879 and became a priest the following year. He obtained his M.A. degree from Trinity College in 1884. He was a curate at Clonmel and later moved to Britain where he held curacies at Warrington, Kentish Town and Clerkenwell. He was appointed vicar at St Michael's Anglican Church in Burtonwood in 1891, a position he held for 45 years. His parish magazine Excelsior was widely read.

Mitchell was an alderman of Lancashire County Council, a member of Burtonwood Parish Council and chairman of the Warrington County Elementary Education Committee. He was a pacifist and campaigned to help the poor.

Mitchell was an anti-vivisectionist and opposed the use of animals in filmmaking. He argued that filmmakers were cruel to animals and planned to get a Bill passed through Parliament which would stop trained animals appearing in films. He was a member of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection and a vice-president of the Warrington Anti-Vivisection Society.

Vegetarianism

Mitchell was a vegetarian, non-smoker and teetotaller. He was disappointed that there was a large amount of antagonism against vegetarianism in the Church. He argued that meat dishes at Christmas festivals were non-Christian, stating that they are a "debasing and degrading orgie, a festival of blood, a festival of cruelty". In 1907, he commented that "vegetarians or food reformers are the only consistent worshippers and the flesh-eater is convicted of inconsistency and falsehood". Mitchell stated that meat-eaters who decorated churches for the harvest festival were making the festival a service of lies and questioned why they didn't also use "trophies of the butcher's art". He condemned such festivals as "uric-acid festivals" for meat-eaters.

Mitchell was a vice-president of the Vegetarian Society, from 1922, and a speaker at its meetings. Mitchell was a council member of Josiah Oldfield's fruitarian Lady Margaret Hospital in Bromley.

Personal life and death

On 8 September 1887, Mitchell married Janet Elizabeth Louisa, the daughter of the solicitor William Hammond of London, at Stratford-sub-Castle, Salisbury.

Mitchell died in Burtonwood, aged 83. He was buried at Burtonwood Cemetery.

Selected publications

• "The Christmas Altar" (PDF). The Herald of the Golden Age. 40 (5): 88–89. 1907.
• "Christmas Cruelties". Burton Wood Parish Magazine. December 1909.
• "What Shall We Eat?". Burton Wood Parish Magazine.

References

1. ^ "History and heritage of our cemeteries". Warrington Borough Council. 2020. Archived from the original on 16 April 2024.
2. ^ "A Notable Cleric: Death of Rev. A. M. Mitchell of Burtonwood". Liverpool Echo. 18 February 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
3. ^ "Death of Burtonwood Vicar: Champion of the Poor". Newton and Earlestown Guardian. 21 February 1936. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
4. "A Vicar on Vivisection". Liverpool Daily Post. 23 December 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
5. "Anti-Vivisection: Annual Meeting of the Warrington Branch". The Examiner. 9 November 1912. p. 6. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
6. "Vivisection a Licensed Evil". The Examiner. 3 April 1920. p. 10. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
7. "Vegetarianism as a Peace Promoter". Manchester Courier. 15 December 1914. p. 6. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
8. "Anti-Christmas". The Halifax Daily Guardian. 21 December 1910. p. 6. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
9. "Harvest Festivals Condemned". The Belfast News Letter. 18 September 1907. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
10. "Harvest Festivals". The Daily News. 17 September 1907. p. 4. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
11. "Service of Lies". The Morning Leader. 17 September 1907. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
12. "The Vegetarian Society's 67th Anniversary Meetings". Manchester City News. 12 December 1914. p. 1. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
13. "Vegetarian Society". Manchester City News. 12 December 1914. p. 10. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
14. "Rev. Alfred Mansfield Mitchell, M.A. (1853-1936)". Order of the Golden Age. 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020.
15. "Lady Margaret Hospital, Bromley". The Bromley Telegraph and Chislehurst Chronicle. 17 March 1906. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
16. "Marriages". Belfast News Letter. 13 September 1887. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
17. "Funeral of the Late Rev. A. M. Mitchell". Newton and Earlestown Guardian. 28 February 1926. p. 5. Retrieved 20 December 2024.

• 1853 births
• 1936 deaths
• 19th-century Irish Anglican priests
• 20th-century Irish Anglican priests
• Aldermen in England
• Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
• Christian vegetarians
• Irish animal rights activists
• Irish anti-poverty advocates
• Irish anti-vivisectionists
• Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom
• Irish pacifists
• Irish vegetarianism activists
• Members of Lancashire County Council
• People associated with the Vegetarian Society